The Biswa Ijtema on the bank of river Turag on the outskirts of capital is not only a religious congregation but also an opportunity for some to make quick bucks by doing brisk business within a couple of weeks.
A good number of makeshift restaurants, clothes shops and bookshops alongside the permanent ones have mushroomed in the area centring the Ijtema.
Besides, a number of hawkers from Gazipur, Tongi and Uttara assemble at the 160-acre land of Ijtema there in a bid to make a brisk business.
Most businessmen said they made double profit during Ijtema, the second largest Muslims congregation after Hajj.
According to law enforcers’ directory, there are around 60 hotels and restaurants and 260 clothes shops raised in the area.
The restaurants are full of people either taking lunch or snacks round the clock while most other shops witness a heavy crowd of customers busy buying knickknacks and other necessary stuff.
Normally, the hoteliers do not come to their business centres at daytime, but during Ijtema they were found working with the hotel managers.
They were seen busy counting money always.
Talking to this correspondent, Abu Taleb, owner of the Maya Hotel, told the Dhaka Tribune they were making a good sale because of Ijtema.
“Normally, our daily sale ranges between Tk10,000 and Tk12,000, but in these days, the sale goes near Tk20,000,” he said.
Taleb added: “This is a usual scenario during Ijtema. Our sale increases. All 30 restaurants established near Dhaka-Mymensing road in Tongi Bazar area make a good sale.”
Some other restaurant mangers echoed the same as Taleb.
They mentioned during Ijtema they had to hire additional workers and sometimes they bring their relatives from villages to face customers.
Even many set up temporary restaurants and roadside eateries with a view to making quick bucks.
Mohammad Ali, who set up a roadside eatery beside Munnu Textile by placing a table and two benches only, told the Dhaka Tribune during Ijtema he sold Tk3,000 to Tk5,000 daily by selling beef, rice and vegetables items.
“I have set up this makeshift food shop to earn some extra in line with my main restaurant established in the station road area,” he said.
Like the restaurants, some 260 clothes shops have been set up in the Ijtema area.
Mohammad Babul Mia, a businessperson in Uttara area, told the Dhaka Tribune he set up his makeshift clothes shops paying Tk25,000 for space to a permanent clothes shop owner, and his sale crossed Tk20,000 daily.
Contacted, Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Tongi police station, said there were around 250 to 300 clothes shops in the area and mainly these shops sold space to the makeshift shop owners as they alone failed to deal with a large number of customers.
Alongside hoteliers, clothes shops and makeshift restaurant owners, hawkers also eke out living through brisk business in the Ijtema area.
Fraid Mia, a puffed rice and peanut seller, said he had been able to sell Tk2500 to Tk3,000 in six days of Ijtema.
There were around 50 other hawkers like me on the ground, he said.
Anower Sadat, president of Gazipur Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told the Dhaka Tribune the sale had doubled during Ijtema and businesspersons were making a profitable business as a huge number of devotees gathered at the Ijtema.
About shops at the congregation, Lehaz Uddin, assistant engineer of Gazipur City Corporation, told the Dhaka Tribune they were the annexes of permanent shops.
He gave the version that there were no chances of setting up makeshift shops on the Ijtema ground because mobile court was always active in the area.
The court would not allow any temporary shops out there, he added.
